Three Insomniacs
by rose7798
Summary: Quick oneshot that takes place almost imeddiatly after the end of house of hades. This is also on Deviantart under rose7798 and the same title.


Three Insomniacs

The Argo II swayed back and forth as it passed over the waves. It was so nice, even Hazel was undisturbed by the ocean. The peacefulness was quite strange compared to the events earlier that day, but it was a much welcomed change in pace. Percy sat on the deck staring at the stars and remembering the "foes" who bared arms to the Doors of Death. He should be exhausted after escaping tartarus, but he had only slept a few hours before he had woken up and found himself unable to go back to sleep. He felt better because of those few hours, but he knew he still needed the rest. No matter how hard he tried, it was impossible to sleep with all the thoughts in his head. A loud crash suddenly broke the silence of the night. On instinct, Percy unsheathed Riptide and positioned himself into a fighting stance. One upside of falling into a giant pit and facing countless monsters is that for the rest of you'll life you'll be prepared for anything.

Leo could still hear the voice whispering in his ear. It was as if it had followed him from his sleep into the real world.

_Do not forget your promise, young hero._

_If you do, I shall enjoy tormenting you for all eternity._

That voice gave him shivers. It was an odd mixture of evil grandmother, evil cartoon snake, and serial killer. Yeah… not pleasant. Though this rarely happened with demigod dreams, Leo actually understood what it was about. He was positive it was speaking about his promise to Calypso. Without even realizing it, he was already in the hallway heading toward the Athena Parthenos. He wasn't sure why he had come. There was little to do now that they knew to bring the statue to Camp Half-Blood. Still… being here with something to do had always helped before. "Hey, old pal," Leo said clapping his hand down on Athena's shoulder. "Looks like you're going on a field trip with a Roman and the emo kid, huh?" He moved to a desk and started tinkering with some bits of metal left there. Maybe he could make some type of weapon to protect Nico, Reyna, and the statue. He started to work; this would be a long night.

Percy crept silently across the deck. As he came closer to one of the rooms he started to hear more sounds. It sounded a bit peculiar for a monster but you could never tell with those creatures. One minute they're a sweet old lady, the next they're a crazy lady with snake hair. After silently counting to three, he burst open the door and rushed into the room. He pinned the monster to the wall with his left arm and held Riptide at the creature's throat with his right… except it wasn't a creature.

"Whoa man, cool it. It's just me," Leo said with a hint of terror in his voice.

"Leo? What are you doing here?" asked Percy.

"I'd tell you but I'm kind of pinned to this wall here," answered Leo with a nervous laugh.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that," Percy replied sheepishly as he relaxed his grip on Leo.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just working on a few things for Miss Athena and her friend Nike's trip." Leo dismissed Percy and turned back to his weapons and tools.

Percy watched him for a minute as he worked. The areas around Leo's eyes were extremely dark from lack of sleep. That wasn't the only thing different about Leo though. Percy met him once before, but even he could tell that that kid was always doing something. He always looked uncomfortable and fidgety, like a child who needed to constantly be entertained or occupied with something. Now, instead of drumming against the table or fiddling with something, his hands just hung there as though it was an effort to move them. He _had _heard Hazel tell Frank that Leo had been acting differently lately.

"Hey Leo," Percy started. "want to walk around the boat with me? You could check on Festus or the ship or something if you want."

"Eh, why not?" Leo shrugged. "I need a break anyway." Leo put the piece he was working with on the shelf and left the room with Percy.

As they continued Percy tried to remember what the others said had happened while he was gone, but for some reason he was unable to do that. "Okay, help me out, what exactly happened when Khione showed up?"

"Well, I was turned into a 'Leosickle' by her, then she chucked me onto an island. I built a raft found my way back and here I am."

Percy's eyes widened when he heard that. He knew he shouldn't ask but, "Island?" Leo prepared to say some lie, as he knew what Percy was implying, but when he opened his mouth all that came out was a sigh. "Yeah," he muttered looking at the sea. "Ogygia." The two stood there for a while, staring at the ocean, lost in their thoughts. At least, they did until a voice disturbed then.

"Hey."

"Nico?" Leo yelped. "Gods, you have got to stop scaring me like that!" Nico chuckled at Leo's discomfort.

"So what are you guys doing up?" Nico asked.

"Can't sleep," Percy answered for the both of them. "You?"

"It's easier to think at night."

"Think about what?" Leo asked cautiously.

"Things," Nico answered abruptly. Leo opened his mouth to say more but Nico shot him a death glare that shut him right up. The spent the rest of the night talking about anything and everything. They didn't even talk about 'demigod stuff'; they would chat about movies, football games, and dumb kids they used to go to school with. Nico mostly listened but he chimed in occasionally. Within in an hour, there were three unconscious boys (one of which was drooling) on the deck completely unaware that in a few hours they would be awakened by a yelling satyr with a baseball bat.


End file.
